ezacharyk
12-12-2007, 08:38 PM
I found this site recently while moderating GP. Jacques Brodeur posted a couple of times today in this thread:
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/12/03/german-shrinks-call-violent-games-landmines-for-the-soul-seek-ban/
Here is his comment in the thread:
THE INDUSTRY USING VIOLENCE TO ENTERTAIN YOUNG CITIZENS, TO ATTRACT THEM, TO CATCH THEIR ATTENTION and TO FILL THEIR IMAGINATION IS GUILTY OF CHILD ABUSE. WHY ? Because this industry knows (or should know) that kids start making a difference between fiction and reality at the age of 7, and the process is not ended before 13. Even then, more and more teens cannot make that difference. Some gamers are angry at psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists for making parents and all of us aware about the damages of FPS videogames on young brains ? These guys are simply doing their job, whether some of us like it or not. The impact of FPS videogames on aggressivity is comparable to the effect of smoking on lung cancer. And 20 years ago, smokers were angry to hear about it. Folks, we need to protect children from violent entertainment. We MUST do it. It’s a matter of mental health ! Thanks to the medical profession for raising our awareness. Protecting young brains must have priority over the profits of any industry and attraction for our favourite games.
Jacques Brodeur, Quebec, Canada
I took a trip around his site www.edupax.org and found much of the same. I did not get to read as much as I wanted as the majority of the site is in French.
But here are a couple of highlights:
From Toxic Culture (http://www.edupax.org/EDUPAX_english.html):
Over the last quarter-century, violence in television programs, video games and other entertainment products has gradually polluted our children’s cultural environment as effectively as some industries have poisoned our air, water and food. Of course, not all TV and other entertainment programs are toxic to children; many informative and even inspiring programs provide positive stimulation and help children and teens to understand the world. The majority, however, do not. As a result, parents and teachers need ways to protect children against mental manipulation and emotional desensitization. Fortunately, much can be done to reduce the impact of this type of pollution on young citizens. This article discusses the use of violence in media, the high cost of that use to young people, and some strategies to combat it.
Advertisers use many techniques to sell to youth. Mostly these involve manipulating their needs during the stages of their growth into adulthood. Some of the more common needs that advertisers take advantage of to sell products include youth needs for peer acceptance, love, safety, desire to feel powerful or independent, aspirations to be and to act older than they actually are, and the need to have an identity. Much of the child-targeted advertising is painstakingly researched and prepared, at times by some of the most talented and creative minds on the planet. Ad agencies retain people with doctorates in marketing, psychology and even child psychology for the purposes of marketing to youth. Advertisers are so successful at marketing to youth that they sometimes discuss it in terms of the battle over what they chillingly call “mind share.” Some advertisers even openly discuss “owning” children’s minds. ... In sum, corporations and their advertising agencies have succeeded in setting up their own authority structures to deliver commercial messages almost everywhere that children go.8
The Youth Vote (http://www.edupax.org/Assets/divers/documentation/18_vote_jeunes/18_003_The%20Youth%20Vote.pdf) page is also interesting.
I wanted to read the 10-Day Challenge (http://www.edupax.org/defi.html) but it was not yet translated. so if someone could translate, I would be much entertained.
http://gamepolitics.com/2007/12/03/german-shrinks-call-violent-games-landmines-for-the-soul-seek-ban/
Here is his comment in the thread:
THE INDUSTRY USING VIOLENCE TO ENTERTAIN YOUNG CITIZENS, TO ATTRACT THEM, TO CATCH THEIR ATTENTION and TO FILL THEIR IMAGINATION IS GUILTY OF CHILD ABUSE. WHY ? Because this industry knows (or should know) that kids start making a difference between fiction and reality at the age of 7, and the process is not ended before 13. Even then, more and more teens cannot make that difference. Some gamers are angry at psychologists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists for making parents and all of us aware about the damages of FPS videogames on young brains ? These guys are simply doing their job, whether some of us like it or not. The impact of FPS videogames on aggressivity is comparable to the effect of smoking on lung cancer. And 20 years ago, smokers were angry to hear about it. Folks, we need to protect children from violent entertainment. We MUST do it. It’s a matter of mental health ! Thanks to the medical profession for raising our awareness. Protecting young brains must have priority over the profits of any industry and attraction for our favourite games.
Jacques Brodeur, Quebec, Canada
I took a trip around his site www.edupax.org and found much of the same. I did not get to read as much as I wanted as the majority of the site is in French.
But here are a couple of highlights:
From Toxic Culture (http://www.edupax.org/EDUPAX_english.html):
Over the last quarter-century, violence in television programs, video games and other entertainment products has gradually polluted our children’s cultural environment as effectively as some industries have poisoned our air, water and food. Of course, not all TV and other entertainment programs are toxic to children; many informative and even inspiring programs provide positive stimulation and help children and teens to understand the world. The majority, however, do not. As a result, parents and teachers need ways to protect children against mental manipulation and emotional desensitization. Fortunately, much can be done to reduce the impact of this type of pollution on young citizens. This article discusses the use of violence in media, the high cost of that use to young people, and some strategies to combat it.
Advertisers use many techniques to sell to youth. Mostly these involve manipulating their needs during the stages of their growth into adulthood. Some of the more common needs that advertisers take advantage of to sell products include youth needs for peer acceptance, love, safety, desire to feel powerful or independent, aspirations to be and to act older than they actually are, and the need to have an identity. Much of the child-targeted advertising is painstakingly researched and prepared, at times by some of the most talented and creative minds on the planet. Ad agencies retain people with doctorates in marketing, psychology and even child psychology for the purposes of marketing to youth. Advertisers are so successful at marketing to youth that they sometimes discuss it in terms of the battle over what they chillingly call “mind share.” Some advertisers even openly discuss “owning” children’s minds. ... In sum, corporations and their advertising agencies have succeeded in setting up their own authority structures to deliver commercial messages almost everywhere that children go.8
The Youth Vote (http://www.edupax.org/Assets/divers/documentation/18_vote_jeunes/18_003_The%20Youth%20Vote.pdf) page is also interesting.
I wanted to read the 10-Day Challenge (http://www.edupax.org/defi.html) but it was not yet translated. so if someone could translate, I would be much entertained.